Category: Uncategorized
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2025…A word for the year
January 19, 2025 Happy New Year! Yes, it’s a few weeks into the year, but we are still very much in the introductory chapters of this new season. I did not make any concrete resolutions as we started the year…I chose to savor how it ended and reflect on what is ahead, and I have…
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Everybody loves Jelly…
November 7, 2024 My earliest memories include him…my Grandpa Bevard (we used the last name to differentiate between our two sets of grandparents–the “Bevards” were my dad’s family and the “Thomas” grandparents were my mom’s family–both sets wonderful, but they could not have been more different). He was always “grandpa” to me, but my cousin,…
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And the adventure continues…
October 15, 2024 It is a cool, sunny day here in central North Carolina, and it finally feels like Autumn–the turning of another season. I’ve been away from these posts for awhile and a few seasons have come and gone. Last I shared, Darrell and I were moving back to North Carolina, and I had…
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May 10, 2023–A Rose by any other name…
One of my fondest memories growing up was going to visit my grandparents on Emerald Isle, NC–my grandfather was the pastor at Chapel by the Sea, and they lived in a parsonage right next to the pretty white church with a steeple. Every afternoon in the summer, after my grandfather worked at the church (including…
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March 4, 2023–C’est Carnaval de Riberac…
Today was Carnival in our small village with all kinds of activities and food particularly for the children, and best of all there was a parade right in front of our house with a band and tons of children, wearing costumes and face paint, loaded onto floats. They threw confetti instead of candy, and there…
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January 21, 2023–“Who Says You Can’t Go Home?”
Recently, I was reading a blog by an expat living in Malaysia. The blogger was sharing lessons she had learned living for the previous year as an expat, specifically ones that no one told her before she moved. One was what it is like to go back to your home country for a visit, and…
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December 25, 2022–Joyeux Noel!
It’s Christmas Day! I hope it has been a wonderful, peaceful, and special holiday for each of you! Caleb, Noah, and Chloe arrived very late on Monday night (about five minutes after midnight and after 3 flights and two layovers). By the time we pulled up to our B&B, it was almost 2am and they…
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December 18, 2022–Settling into a French home and life
We’ve been in France for a week and half…so much has happened, and we are learning so much about France (a realization of our previous misconceptions included). First, a quick update on our progress with setting up the B&B business. In order to work in France, we had to have approved visas, specifically for us…
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December 13, 2022–First Days in France…sorting and unpacking
So…on day 2, we slept in until 10:30 am. I took a long stretch in our guest room bed and thought of the great coffee I would make in my new kitchen downstairs. A few minutes later, Darrell poked his head into the bathroom and flicked the light switch, causing no change. “Well,” he said,…
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December 5, 2022–Adventure?
I am not going to lie, y’all– in the last 24 hours, I have asked Darrell at least 3 times, “Do we really want to do this? We still have time to back out.” Though we would lose our down payment–the papers don’t get signed until 4am, our time, tomorrow. These are last minute jitters,…
A Cariad Life 